Author: travel67

Hamaori-sai, Chigasaki, Tokyo (Part 2)

Published by

Fellow photographer Damon warned me that to get decent shots you would need to follow the mikoshi out into the sea. The waves caused the height of the water to surge from ankle deep to waist deep in a few seconds. I kept a firm grip on the camera, and lifted it above my head when the waves broke to avoid water droplets hitting the lens. The real danger though was the strong undertow. It pulled at my sneakers and khakis trying to sweep me off the feet. Several of the participants were sent tumbling and then sucked ten or twenty feet out into the surf before being grabbed. This lady found her unexpected dunking to be hysterical. The key in situations like this is to have good camera insurance. I knew the chances that I would end up swimming were slim, but there was no way I’d have taken the risk without comprehensive cover. One thought provoking thing about this year’s festival was that on previous occasions when the waves had been of similar …

Hamaori-sai, Chigasaki, Tokyo (Part 1)

Published by

4.30AM After spending the night drinking coffee in a Gusto restaurant Damon, Lily and I joined the worshipers as they arrived at the beach. Hamaori-sai takes place each year on Marine Day, in the city of Chigasaki. Mikoshi (portable shrines) are carried down to the beach and into the ocean. Large waves, a strong undertow, and a lack of sleep made the event even more memorable. First portrait of the day, and it’s not even 5AM 🙂 The sun’s rays begin to creep over the horizon while more mikoshi make their way to the ocean. Love shooting portraits at festivals. Someone told me recently that I’m a face collector. Sounds creepy, but it’s true 🙂

Pentax – Exhibitions, Cameras and the Future

Published by

I was up in Tokyo last weekend to catch the end of the Love & Hope exhibition at the Pentax Forum, and to photograph the Hamaori-sai festival in Chigasaki. It was good to see the huge print of my image on the wall of the gallery, and then as a bonus find out that Pentax had also chosen it to promote the exhibition in a Tokyo newspaper. Had a good chat with the staff at the forum. They had the special edition Pentax 645D with a traditional laquerware body on sale at a mere 1,200,000 yen. (The perfect thing for the person who loves to collect cameras and then leave them in a hermetically sealed cabinet.) I also got to have a quick play with a preproduction version of the tiny, mirrorless Pentax Q camera. Not sure what I think of the Q. It is the world’s smallest camera with interchangeable lenses, but it will be interesting to see if it can compete with the likes of the Sony NEX-C3, the Olympus PEN or the …

Fugu Chef’s License

Published by

Fugu the dish that can quite literally take your breath away. To avoid poisonings fugu chefs are required by law to have a fugu license. The license was introduced after WWII as many starving Japanese died having eaten improperly prepared fugu, or discarded food waste which contained fugu liver or skin. This image was shot in Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku. The fish in the background are fugu unaware of their impending doom.

Natsumi & J.P. Engagement Shoot

Published by

The light painting course finished at around 1AM on the Sunday morning. 5 hours later I was back at the beach for an early morning engagement shoot with Natsumi and J.P. Natsumi and I had already chatted about the look she wanted for the photographs. It allowed us to make decisions on what they were going to wear and how I would shoot. I decided on using natural light with reflectors. The final images are all very similar to how they looked in camera. I had originally thought I would give the following images an Abercrombie style sepia tint in Photoshop, but the cool blues of the sky and ocean would have lost their magic. I also consciously kept the images bright, aiming to give them a certain freshness and vitality. Both Natsumi and J.P. were relaxed in front of the camera, and it wasn’t long until they had forgotten about posing and were just enjoying hanging out at the beach. All in all, a great shoot with a lovely couple. Congratulations to you both …

Night Fever – Fantastic Light Painting Workshop

Published by

It’s been a busy few weeks. Last weekend was the Light Painting Workshop with guest instructor Trevor Williams. It was a fantastic course, everyone learned a lot, and each of the students produced some amazing images. Here are just of few of things we created. Thanks to all the participants who made this such a great weekend, and of course to Trevor for flying down from Okayama for the weekend. If you missed this course, Trevor’s next weekend workshop will be in Vancouver this August and then hopefully we can get him back to Okinawa sometime in 2012.